Evening all Does anyone out there have any experience with JAG IFS running Polyurethane bushes instead of standard rubber bushes all round? The IFS is welded to front of my 58 F100 chassis we built, that will run a 289 with a C4, shown in the photos below. As it is solid mounted to the chassis, will the ride be awful with poly bushes? I don't mind the ride being a little harsh, as the 52 chevy truck i have been driving is in the weeds, with a mustang II up front and rides harsh, but will the poly bushes squeak like mad? Any advise from someone wiser would be awesome.... LEEROY
I have the polyurethane bushes in my street Jag and they work fine. You do need to lubricate them properly as they can squeak. As you have welded in the crossmember the insulation to road shocks that the standard rubber mounting blocks provides is now lost. For that reason I would be installing the rubber bushes in the control arms and not the urethane type. You can also get urethane bushes for the steering rack mount. I would recommend those as the originals are prone to softening when oiled. Where they are located any rack oil leak will rot them quickly.
I rubber mounted my subframe on my F1, and went with standard rubber bushings. I've used poly bushings in the past, and they always seem to squeak. They make a type of graphite/poly combo, but I don't know if they make them for jags. Unless you really need to stiffness of the poly, I don't think I'd bother with them. I did use the poly rack bushings because of the rot resistance and the likely hood that the jag rack will leak on them. Remember, don't tighten the lower control arm until you've got the vehicle at ride height.
Some folk use red rubber grease. I have no experience with rubber grease in this application. Others, including myself use the grey/black moly grease such as Castrol LMM .
I had both rubber and poly in my XJ6 at different times and could barely tell the difference. For lubriction on poly bushes I spray them with silicon tyre shine when I do an oil change.
thanks to all for information... Think i will go poly on it all and lube them well to stop squeaks, think i can deal with hard ride. Give it 40 years when I'm old and 60 and I may regret the choice.... Plan to bag front eventually, so don't think should really matter? toddc does the silicon spray eliminate all your squeaks or do you still have the odd squeak?
It eliminates the squeak. I spray all the bushes every time I have the car on a hoist, I don't wait for it to start squeaking. Also, you can get rubber bushes cheap from here http://www.britishparts.co.uk/
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